1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates broadly to decoys for use in the hunting of waterfowl such as ducks and geese, and more particularly to a novel decoy construction.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Various types of decoys have been employed heretofore in the hunting of waterfowl such as ducks and geese in order to attract the fowl and entice them to fly over or land on a designated particular area of land or water. When hunting is to be conducted in a selected area, a number of decoys are deployed in the area to attract overflying fowl to that area. Of course, the more natural and prominent the deployed decoys can be made to appear, the more likely they are to attract overflying fowl. The body and head configuration, the surface coloring and texture, and the manner in which the anchored decoy rides or floats in the water, all influence the appearance of a group of decoys.
Efforts have continued over the years to improve the appearance and performance of such decoys, and to that end it has been suggested the bodies may be formed in various ways. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 547,033 discloses a decoy formed by filling a fabric covering affixed to a floating base with loose material such as grass, straw, leaves, paper, or excelsior. U.S. Pat. No. 2,719,376 pertains to a decoy having a hollow molded pulp body. U.S. Pat. No. 3,704,538 suggests a decoy having an air inflatable body portion, while the decoy of U.S. Pat. No. 3,888,032 employs as the body a flexible, resilient, molded shell which is collapsible but which will return to its original shape when the collapsing force is removed. The surfaces of the bodies are generally configured and ornamented in one way or another to resemble, as nearly as possible, the feather arrangement and coloring of a particular species of waterfowl. In most present day decoys the surface of the body itself is formed with a feature appropriate to achieve the desired visual effect, and the surface is then painted or decorated. Such an arrangement has not been found entirely satisfactory in that the surface does not present a realistic appearance and the finish is often damaged by the rough handling to which the decoys are subjected.
Most present day decoys are also provided with a keel structure as typically shown by the aforementioned patents. Such keels serve a dual purpose in that they both provide stability and a more life-like stance to the decoy as it floats on the surface of the body of water, and further provide a means for affixing a line to the decoy for anchoring it at selected locations. The keel thus stabilizes the decoy to minimize unnaturally appearing rotation, rocking, and sidewise movement due to winds, waves and currents. It also serves to maintain the decoy in an upright position and to right the decoy should it overturn or be initially deployed in an overturned position. The keels have included various arrangements for not only affixing the anchor line to the decoy, but also for storing the line in a wrapped condition while the decoy is not in use and for storing excess line to permit effective use of the anchor in bodies of water of different depths. Again, the prior art keel constructions have not proven entirely satisfactory in that they tend to be expensive to produce and complicated and cumbersome to use. Such decoys are often deployed and retrieved under very adverse conditions since waterfowl hunting is most successfully conducted during periods of adverse cold, rainy, windy weather. Thus, it is highly desirable that the anchor line be readily manipulated during deployment and retrieval and that it remain securely in the selected position during deployment of the decoy.